Mass Effect: Birds of Prey and Fire
by Mr. McGiggles
Summary: Redone  "It's a kill or be killed galaxy out there. Some say they can change it, but they're just delusional. All a guy with no cause can do is survive as best as he can"  Follow the story of a merc  who uncovers secrets that were better left unknown
1. Prologue

A/N: Okay so long story short, I got really busy, now not so much. There were a number of things that I wasn't happy about what I wrote in the original story so I started from scratch. I'm retelling the story and changing up many of the plot points. This story mostly revolves around a cast of OCs but there will be plenty of familiar characters along the way. Anyway here is the redone version. Please review; I don't mind hearing criticism or praise.

**Mass Effect: Birds Of Prey and Fire**

**Prologue**

The mess hall of the passenger liner on its way to Omega was rather empty for an afternoon, or at least an afternoon according to the clock on the ship. Only about a third of the seating was filled.

Ilina and Naltaris were a duo of freelance asari mercs. Though the passenger liner they were taking was meant for general transit, it seemed as though this area of the Terminus System was a popular spot for mercenaries to hang around. At least a third of all the passengers were mercs.

After Ilina and Naltaris went through the food line, which looked like an assortment of dressed up nutrient paste, they made their way towards one of the long tables. The pair chose a table that, with the exception of a human cleaning a rifle, was completely empty.

As Ilina made her way towards the table, she noticed why no one chose to sit there. The human sitting at the table was a rather intimidating looking one. He was an older human, maybe in his sixth or seventh decade of his life, but he gave out the sense that he was perfectly capable of using the rifle he was cleaning and the pistol at his side to their fullest potential. Half of his face appeared to have been blown off and then reattached. His glass eye didn't make him any more approachable than he already was.

Despite the rather scary looking human, Naltaris went ahead and sat down at the table as if the human were any other stranger. Despite Ilina's immediate inclination of finding another place to sit, she went along with her friend and sat across the table from her. Naltaris wasn't the kind of person to get intimidated by one's appearance. She could stare down a krogan if she wanted to.

The two did their best to enjoy their unnervingly bland meal. After a whie, Ilina spoke up, "I heard that another Blue Suns outpost got hit."

Naltaris let out a groan, "And?"

"Well," Ilina hesitated for a moment, "It's suspected that it could be Raptor."

Ilina could have sworn she heard a chuckle come from the stranger sitting farther down the table but was soon distracted by Naltaris.

"Are you seriously still going on about this?" groaned Naltaris.

Ilina threw her hands up in a gesture of defense, "Hey, all I'm saying is that it could be Raptor."

Naltaris rubbed her forehead for a moment, "Listen, how many time have we been over this?"

"I know but-" Ilina was cut off by Naltaris before she could finish her sentence.

"How many official reports have there been of Raptor?" asked Naltaris.

"There have been six," answered Ilina.

"No" retorted Naltaris, "Only one has been confirmed by Aria's syndicate. The other five refer to a mysterious soldier or figure in the distance. That could be anyone, not _The Predator of the Terminus_."

Ilina was quiet. She realized Naltaris had done her homework, and there was no way of winning this argument. It was strange. Ilina was normally the one making the better case in these situations. She normally brought the brains and Naltaris normally brought the brawns. It must not have been one of those normal days. She let Naltaris continue her rant without interruption.

"There have been several rumors circulating claiming that Raptor is Aria's personal body guard," continued Naltaris, "Of course Aria would want to confirm Raptor's existence if a rumor like that is going around; it just makes her seem all the more intimidating than she already is."

Ilina gave her friend a slightly anxious and alarmed look when she realized the human at the end of the table was staring right at them, but Naltaris didn't notice.

"If you ask me," stated Naltaris, still neglecting to recognize the expression on her friend's face, Raptor is just a made up boogieman to freak out mercs in the Terminus System. He's just a scare tactic, He's not real."

"Pardon, me for eavesdropping," spoke up the horribly scarred human, interrupting Naltaris's rant, "but I couldn't help but notice you two were talking about Raptor."

"Yeah, what of it?" snapped Naltaris, clearly not intimidated by the human's appearance.

"Just thought you two could use my input, that's all," responded the human, doing his best to be polite despite his gruff nature, "You might learn something."

What seemed like a smirk came across the old man's face. The less scarred half appeared to have muscle movement while the other half seemed to have next to no movement at all.

After a short pause, Naltaris spoke in a slightly annoyed tone, "Alright, go ahead."

The human set down his rifle and looked up at the ceiling as though he were trying to recall his memories, "I don't normally talk about this story much since it deals with one of my more unsuccessful missions, but I'm in a good mood."

Ilina noticed that the human talked in what other humans called an "English" accent or maybe it was "Australian?" She was never able to tell the difference between the two.

The human kept on talking, "As if the rifle, the armor, and the scars didn't give it away, you might have guessed that my profession mostly involves me being shooting at things, just like every other bastard on this ship. Anyway, about a year ago, some volus merchant wanted some rich ass asari dead, I can't remember her name but that doesn't matter."

Naltaris rolled her eyes at what seemed like the old man's ramblings,

"I was hired along with seven other men to take her out," continued the human, "There were rumors of the asari having some sort legendary mercenary from Omega called Raptor in her service."

Ilina perked up a little when she heard the name. Naltaris's raised an eyebrow.

"Though some of us, including myself had heard about this Raptor before, most of us were in your boat," said the human, gesturing towards Naltaris, "We didn't really think much of it. I've killed my fair share of men who were claimed to be legendary, so I didn't really think any different of this Raptor."

Ilina noticed the human's story had drawn in a few spectators. Two turians and a human had found a seat at the table and were listening to the veteran's story.

"We tracked the asari's movements and caught up to her at one of clubs in Nos Astra," the human tapped his index finger on the table, "Our contracts offered to pay us all double if we didn't make a fuss or cause any commotion, so we waited until she left. As we followed her we noticed she was unprotected, and the volus hired an entire squad of mercenaries. We knew something was odd, but I've worked stranger jobs in the past."

"Don't tell me, let me guess," Naltaris interjected, "This 'Raptor' came out of no where and ripped your squads to shreds, and you were the only survivor."

Despite the boldness and sarcasm of the asari, the old man let out a small chuckle, "Hehe–something like that. We tracked the asari until she went to an alleyway and figured it was as good of a time as any to finish the job."

The old man paused for a second. Naltaris knew it was for dramatic effect. Though she pretty was sure this human was lying, this guy could really tell a story, she counted at least ten people crowded around the table listening to the veteran's tale.

"Turns out the whole thing was a trap," said the human as his eyes narrowed, "By the time we had set up the ambush, Raptor was greeting us with an ambush of his own."

"So you met Raptor," remarked one of the turians who had recently joined the small crowd to see what was going on.

"What was he like?" asked Ilina, clearly sucked in by the veteran mercenary's story.

"Well," answered the merc as he leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin, "He's not ten feet tall and shoots laser beams out of his eyes if that's what you're asking, but don't get me wrong, he's not the first guy you'd want to piss off."

"I heard he was some mutant turian," interjected a batarian from the slowly growing crowd.

The human cocked his head, "Err, he didn't look much like a turian."

"I heard he was from an unknown race," stated one of the humans in the crowd.

"Well, I wouldn't argue against that possibility," responded the old man, "But if I had to guess, I would say he was either human or drell, asari maybe–hell possibly batarian–I'm not sure. From what I remember, he was wearing a face mask with a glowing red slit visor, so it would be kind of hard to determine his race."

There was a low hum of whispering and mumbling amongst the crowd. Despite the fact that Naltaris believed this guy was full of crap, she still wanted to see where this guy's story went.

"So what happened in the alley?" asked Naltaris.

"Right-let's see–were was I," the veteran furrowed his brow as he tried to find the point in his story where he left off, "Ah, now I remember. Right, when we were about to get the jump on the asari, Raptor got the jump on us. I'm not sure if he was held up in the alley or if he was trailing us the whole time, but he killed two of our men before the rest of us realized he was even there. It didn't take him long to take out another two either."

Ilina shot a glance towards her friend whom didn't seem to notice. Naltaris was still skeptical. The murmur of the crowd grew a little bit louder at the talk of Raptor in action.

Naltaris shrugged, "Don't get me wrong, getting the jump on a squad of mercs and being able to take out four is impressive, but that kind of stuff isn't completely unheard of."

The old human mercenary shook his head, "You would have to have been there to understand. After the first two went down, we opened fire on him while he was in the open, but we couldn't hit him. He just dodged our lines of fire as if he knew where we were gonna shoot before we did, but that's not the only thing that blew me away."

"And what was that?" asked Naltaris, tilting her head.

"Well you see," went on the human merc, "There was this krogan in our squad that was rather-err…unstable, even for a krogan. When it hit the krogan that none of us were able to hit Raptor, the krogan went into a blood rage and charged at Raptor with a combat knife."

The crowd around the old veteran grew eerily quiet.

"When the krogan charged, I thought for sure Raptor would jump out of the way, but he just stood his ground," there was a slight hint of awe in the old man's voice as he shifted in his chair, "Instead, at the last second, Raptor did some sort of hand to hand maneuver that I've never seen before on the krogan, knocking the wind out of the thing. He then pulled out some sort of long glowing knife and with three swipes, hacked the krogan's head off clean!"

There was a long moment of silence, until Ilina spoke up, "So what happened after that?"

"We ran," said the human as he picked up the rifle on the table to resume cleaning it, "We figured going any further along with the mission was just suicide The volus offered to pay well if we succeeded, but not well enough for a suicide mission. I reckon Raptor knew that none of us would be bothering him any time soon since he never bothered to chase any of us down."

When the human finished his story, the crowd mingled around talking amongst themselves. Ilina shot Naltaris a glance.

Naltaris wasn't sure what to believe. The man's story did seem pretty legitimate, but she was a more "see it to believe it," kind of a person. Still, regardless as to whether he was real or not, people in this part of the galaxy sure loved to talk about Raptor.

_Six Months Later_

Elias scurried out of the public transit tram with the rest of the passengers. It didn't take him long to spot Crow at the docking station.

"Sarge!" called out Crow as he noticed Elias approach him.

"Heh," chuckled Elias, "You still call me that, huh?"

"Well," said Crow, shrugging, "old habits die hard, I guess."

"It's good to see you again," responded Elias, letting a smile come across his face.

"Likewise," retorted Crow with a smile of his own forming.

The two young men stood there for a second trying to take the moment in. They had barely seen each other for over two years.

Crow's smile disappeared as he noticed Elias was clutching his abdomen.

"Uh…why are you–" Crow question was cut short when the noticed that the area that Elias was holding onto had a dark red stain growing around it, "Jesus! Elias, you're bleeding!"

Elias quickly looked down while Crow tried to reach out and get a better look at his friend's wound.

"Oh that?" said Elias, pulling away, "don't worry about that, I'll be fine."

"Look we need to get you to our place, how long has that been there?" the inner soldier had come out of Crow and it showed through his voice.

"I–" began Elias, but he started getting dizzy again, and his vision started going dark.

"Sarge?" asked Crow as he noticed his friend lose his balance.

Crow quickly caught Elias and placed him on a nearby bench to try not to cause too much of a scene out in the open in the Wards.

Crow opened up his communicator, "Hawk! Call up Doc. I found Falcon, but he's wounded and I think he just went unconscious!"

Crow reached into his overcoat and pulled out a small metal cylinder with a needle at the end. He jammed the needle in Elias's quad. Elias let out a grunt as he made his way back to consciousness.

"Come on," said Crow as he pulled up Elias off the bench and wrapped his friend's arm around his shoulders, "Our base isn't far from here."


	2. The Consort

**Mass Effect: Birds of Prey and Fire**

**Chapter 1: The Consort**

Crow was standing in the entrance halls of the Consort's chambers arguing with the greeter.

"Look, I don't mean to be difficult, but is it really that unreasonable to allow me to ask Sha'ira a question?" asked Crow. He scratched his head, trying to find the words that he was looking to say.

"I mean it's not like I'm looking for her to…well–you know"

The asari greeter frowned at hearing this, "I think your concept of the Consort is rather skewed," lectured the greeter, "Sha'ira is no prostitute from Omega. She is an inspirational woman who whishes to ease the troubles of people in the Galaxy. I feel that I must bring to your attention that many of those who schedule appointments with the Consort involve seeking her advice, not pleasure."

"But it's not advice that I'm looking for!" retorted Crow, clearly frustrated, "My friend is hurt: his condition is–"

Crow's sentence was completed by the greeter, "–critical. I understand the severity of your situation, but there are many people in line waiting to see the Consort who have their problems, too."

Crow frowned at the asari's response. The greeter seemed to be reciting a speech that she had repeated verbatim before.

"Believe me when I say I understand the urgency. Now if you would like to make an appointment…" The asari looked own that the holopad, punching numbers into it.

Crow rolled his eyes, 'Is she seriously going to try to set up an appointment with someone who might be dead tomorow?' thought Crow, 'I guess I'll have to do things the usual way.'

The greeter continued to look down while she was talking, "Now, the soonest I can schedule an appointment with the Consort would be in about ten weeks from now. How does the sound sir?"

After a long silence, the asari spoke again and looked up from the holo screen, "Sir?"

Crow was gone.

Crow walked through the rather crowded lobby, careful not to bump into anybody. When he reached a vacant, narrow hallway, he deactivated his stealth field. He often found that that piece of tech and bit of training was more useful to him outside of combat than in it.

He deduced that the bigger door at the end to the hall was the Consort's room. He walked up to the door and rang the buzzer.

"Come in," said a voice over the door's intercom.

The holographic display of the door dissipated as the door opened. Crow walked in and scanned the room. He saw a salarian seated in a purple chair across from an asari dressed in a plain white tunic, which seemed to blend in with the rest of the room. Crow deduced that she must have been the Consort.

She was sitting on a sofa. Her room contained various relics, plants and decorations along with some weird scarlet colored pod. There was a plant next to the sofa that Sha'ira was sitting on that had something metallic looking hidden at the base of the plant.

Sha'ira turned her head around and appeared a little alarmed to see Crow standing in the doorway. She got up and made her way towards the edge of the sofa where the plant was.

"I wasn't informed of having any visitors at this moment. Perhaps you have the wrong time?" asked Sha'ira, which sounded more like a statement. Distrust and uncertainty were clear in her voice.

"My appointment wasn't exactly planned," said Crow rubbing his neck, seeming rather uneasy.

Despite forcing his way into the Consort's chambers, he felt rather out of place. He suddenly felt a small feeling of regret for turning off his stealth field.

"I'm here because a friend of mine is in trouble," went on Crow, "his name is Elias."

The asari tilted her head, "Oh really?" she said, "Elias? that's a human name, but I've met many men named Elias, could you be a little ore specific?" The consort drew closer to the plant next to the sofa.

Due to trying to lay low and preventing any unwanted attention, Crow hadn't had to come off as strong and intimidating for quite some time. As soon as he recognized this, Crow's old instincts started to kick in again. He straightened his posture and mimicked the stance he saw Elias and Eagle take when they were interrogating prisoners or witnesses.

"Listen, I'm not here to hurt you or you're client," said Crow as he gestured towards the salarian who was still sitting, all awkwardness in Crow's voice and was replaced with assertiveness, "but I have to speak with you now; so you can just step away from the gun that you have hidden in that plant."

Crow was pointing directly at the base of the plant that Sha'ira was inching towards. The asari looked alarm for a second and then slowly stepped away from the hidden weapon. It was clear that this youth was a veteran of some sort.

"And don't bother calling in security," said Crow as he pointed towards a red button on a nearby coffee table, "believe me when I say they won't do you much good."

Despite being threatened and held hostage by someone who had better observation skills than some of the specters she had met, the Consort seemed rather calm. Crow wondered if this wasn't the first time she had been in a situation like this before.

After a long silence, Sha'ira spoke in a soothing tone. She was probably thinking that Crow was some sort of nut case.

"If you need me to help you, I'm going to need specifics. Can you tell me the last name of your friend?"

Crow closed his eyes and shook his head, letting out a grunt of frustration, "Augh! I can't…He never told me."

Sha'ira tilted her head, "He never told you his last name?"

Crow waved off the small bit of embarrassment, "Look, it's complicated to explain. I just came here to follow a lead that might be able to help a friend who's in trouble. Do you remember a guy about my age, named Elias?

Crow hesitated a little before giving out the vague hint, "he's more like me than other people."

Crow was careful not to give too much information out to someone who might not know anything about Elias. It wasn't that he flat out distrusted Sha'ira, but because the less people who knew about Elias, Crow, and their kind, the better.

Sha'ira subconsciously stepped forward. "More like you or yourself than other people? I've heard that from someone before," if the Consort wasn't interested in what Crow had to say before, she was now, "Can you tell me what your name is?"

"That's not important," retorted Crow, putting one hand up, a subconscious sign in human body language that meant someone was asking for or telling too much information.

"Maybe this could jog your memory," said Crow after a short silence as he pulled out a pendant from one of the inner pockets of his coat.

He walked up and handed it to the Consort. Sha'ira immediately knew which Elias that the intruder was talking about upon looking at the pendant.

The pendant had a red colored gem found on earth in the center, it was called a ruby stone. The stone was in the center of a silver cross with gold edges. There was a phrase written across the arms of the cross, written in an old human language that Elias called Latin.

Sha'ira stared at the pendant for a while. She found it rather ironic that Elias would be the one needing her help.

She looked back at the young man who was standing in front of her. She felt as though she recognized this person from somewhere.

Suddenly, flashes of memory went by, but they weren't her memories; they were Elias's. She first saw a dark haired, brown-eyed boy, no older than twelve, sitting on a stack of crates. He jumped off the crates, and with a smile, offered his hand. Her vision focused on the boy's face and flashed to an older version of the face. He was scanning the horizon over the edge of a cliff. He slipped on a combat helmet with a yellow design etched over it. The memory flashed again. Sha'ira saw the same person crouched at the other end of the doorway. He pressed a detonator, and the door blew open. There was one final memory of the same young man examining a rifle and a set of pistols. He turned around and with the same smile from the first memory and offered a high-five.

When Sha'ira snapped out of her trans, she realized the young man standing in front of her was the same man from the visions. Though she didn't know him or his name, she had a feeling that the dark haired, brown-eyed young man standing in front of her was someone that Elias could trust with his life.

"Right," confirmed Sha'ira in a soft voice, "I know which Elias, you're talking about now. What sort of trouble is he in?"

"Before I start answering your questions, you'll have to answer mine," declared Crow.

Sha'ira was slightly taken aback by the demands of the young man, but then realized that when she first met Elias, he wasn't very keen on giving out any information either. The man in front of her was probably taking the same precautions.

"What's your association with Elias?" inquired Crow.

"Well," Sha'ira closed her eyes trying to piece together an explanation of her relationship to Elias, "He and I helped each other out when we were both in a rough spot. I guess you could say that we're friends."

Crow looked at her puzzled. It was unlike Elias, or for that matter any TITAN, to make friends outside of the ones they've known their whole life. He was certain that the Consort was withholding information from him, but he wasn't sure if it was out of some malevolent cause or mutual distrust.

Sha'ira spoke up again, "Pardon me, I don't know what your relationship is with Elias, but how did you know I was once associated with him? We had both agreed to never let anyone know that we knew each other."

"I had no idea of his previous involvement with you," confessed Crow, "I was just following a potential lead that I hope might be able to help me figure out what happened to him."

Sha'ira stepped forward, "And what did happen to him?"

Crow stood still for a moment and then looked towards the salarian. The two had almost forgotten he was there. The salarian was still sitting in the chair, sitting upright, starring at the both of them. He was unsure of what to make of the situation.

Sha'ira caught the subtle hint, "Mr. Solonarus," she said in a business like tone, "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm going to have to cancel our appointment for the time being. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

The salarian was about to open his mouth to speak, but Sha'ira cut him off before he could get a single word out, "Don't worry, I will give you a full refund and reschedule our appointment within the month free of charge."

The salarian stood there contemplating the Consort's deal. With a curt nod, the salarian agreed to her terms. He walked out without a hassle.

Crow waited for the door to shut before speaking, "What I'm about to tell you is highly confidential. If you tell anyone I'll be forced to kill you. Do you understand?"

Sha'ira nodded. Though she didn't show it, the frankness in which the man spoke was rather intimidating. There was no emphasis on the word "kill." It was as though he were discussing a sport event or the news. Though he was basically threatening her with murder, Sha'ira understood that Elias and the people like him were highly protective of one another.

"I'm not sure what happened to him," said Crow, "We met at the transit station, and I noticed he was badly wounded."

"Elias getting wounded?" asked Sha'ira, "I find that pretty hard to believe. If I'm not mistaken, your whole kind is rather difficult to physically harm in combat."

That last statement seemed to jolt a small circuit in Crow's brain, "Wait, you know about us?"

"Not the specifics no," answered Sha'ira, "but I do have a general sense of you and what you people like to call your _kind_."

"How did you–" Crow was cut off short from a short series of beeps coming from his omni tool.

Crow put a finger to his ear, "Hoc cornix."

At first Sha'ira thought there was something wrong with her translator, but as the young man standing in front continued to speak into his communicator, she realized that he was speaking in a dialect that wasn't programmed into her translator.

Crow continued to talk to Hawk over his communicator. His eyes widened slightly, and he stared at Sha'ira for a moment.

"Itan?" he asked, appearing slightly surprised.

Crow broke his stare and loosened his posture as he let out a small sigh, "Fiat."

Crow looked at Sha'ira again. He spoke in a language that her translator was able to pick up, "Apparently I can trust you, but you probably won't be able to help us."

Crow backed up towards the door, "I'm sorry for bothering you."

Sha'ira called out to him just as Crow opened the door, "Wait, I may be of some assistance."

Crow turned to face her with a slightly surprised expression on his face.

"That is," continued Sha'ira, "If your willing to me take to Elias."

"And how would you be able to help us?" inquired Crow.

"I could 'look' into his mind," Sha'ira paused for a moment before continuing, "That is if you would allow me to do so."

"Look?' asked Crow, "You mean as in mind reading?"

"No, not mind reading," corrected Sha'ira, "I could meld our minds for a period of time. I know a person like him can hide his memories, even from me, but I may be able to feel his surface emotions. I know its not much, but it may help you piece together whatever it is you're trying to figure out."

Crow thought about the possibility of using Sha'ira. Though he didn't like the fact of bringing any stranger near the base, he didn't have any other better course of action to take. There were no other leads to follow. Though his mind was telling him no, his gut was strangely saying yes.

"Alright fine," said Crow, deciding to go with his gut instinct, "I'll take you to Elias, but if you decide to try to pull something on us, we won't hesitate to stop you."

Crow pulled up the side of his long coat, revealing a concealed pistol. Sha'ira got the hint and nodded.

"Very well," confirmed Sha'ira, "I can assure you that I mean no harm to you or Elias."

The two made their way out of the chamber. As the two were walking through the halls, Crow spoke up.

"You mind telling me why you seem so easy to trust me? You don't seem to be asking me too many questions. For all you know, I could be leading you off somewhere where you'll never be seen again."

Sha'ira smirked at the statement. She let out a little laugh, "Hah, that may be so, but from my understanding you're very close to Elias. You grew up with him. If Elias can trust you, than I can as well."

Crow stopped in his tracks causing Sha'ira to do the same.

"How would you know if I'm close to Elias or not?" asked Crow. The question seemed more like a statement than an inquiry.

"Well, disregarding the fact that you've potentially compromised your anonymity for his well being, and you even specifically referred to Elias as your friend, Elias sought out my advice once about a year or so ago," explained Sha'ira, "I offered to meld our minds so that I could understand what it was that he needed me to tell him. Though I didn't see much of his memories, I did catch a glimpse of those who he viewed as important in his life. You were one of them."

Crow looked at Sha'ira for a moment with a rather confused expression.

"Besides," said Sha'ira, she continued to walk on as she talked, "You just have to trust people sometimes. That expression has brought me more good than misfortune in my time. If I meet an untimely end now because of it, then so be it, but I have a feeling you mean me no unnecessary harm."

Her justification raised more questions than answers for Crow, but it was enough to appease him for the time being.

When the two neared the exit, they came across the greeter whom, just a few minutes ago, had a minor confrontation with Crow. She appeared to be shocked to see him walking in toe with the Consort.

"Uh–" the greeter was cut off short by Sha'ira.

"I know," she said raising a hand, signaling that everything was fine, "This young man has brought an urgent matter to me that requires my immediate attention. I'm going to have to have you cancel all of my appointments for the day."

"But–" the greeter was cut off again by Sha'ira who already knew what she was about to say.

"I know it's going to cause some trouble and inconveniences for some people," acknowledged Sha'ira, "We can reschedule them. Unfortunately I may not be able to reschedule this current task at hand. We can discuss the details about my absence later, but right now, I must leave."

That last sentence was meant more for everyone that was less meant for the greeter only and more for everyone else who was listening in. The small crowd of people in the lobby had all stopped talking and was now staring at Crow and Sha'ira.

Sha'ira pulled the white hood from her tunic over her head and made her way to the exit. Crow gave the greeter a triumphant smirk before following the Consort. Before the two had made it to the exit, the greeter called out to them.

"Shouldn't you leave with some protection, body guards, Sha'ira? There are people out there who would be willing to hurt you."

Sha'ira stopped and turned towards the greeter one last time before exiting her domain, "I appreciate your concern, but if this young man is who I think he is, he should be all the protection I need."


End file.
